West Elm pillow knock-off

Pulling from my completed project files, this is a project that I did just shy of a year ago. A couple years ago, I sewed some basic pillow covers using blue microfiber fabric purchased on the cheap from Joann's Fabrics. Eventually I decided I wanted to dress them up, but it took a while to land on the right idea. This West Elm felted origami pillow was the perfect solution.

 It took a bit of time, but was very easy to make. From looking at the pillow I realized that each little piece of the pattern was created by using squares and then folding in the corners. I liked the scale of the pattern on the West Elm pillow, so I measured the length of my pillow and divided by 6 to figure out how long to make each side of the squares. I then cut 36 squares, ironed them in half on the diagonal, and used a glue gun to put a dab of glue in the middle of each square and fold in the two opposite corners on the diagonal.

I then arranged all of the pieces on the pillow cover, pinned them in place and meticulously hot glued each one on. I'm very pleased with how it came out, and especially so because it was free. :) The felted grey wool definitely speaks to me, but I was trying to work with what I had. If I were to ever do another one, I would definitely go for the felted wool. I wouldn't recommend the microfiber as a first choice because I do get a bit of fraying (nothing that a quick snip with the scissors can't fix, though).

Pretty darn close to the real thing, right? :)

Origins

After years of following blogs and thinking, "I want to do that..." (blog, that is) I've finally jumped on the bandwagon. I'm hoping that this will be a fun way for me to catalog my exciting finds and DIY projects that I've attempted, but I also plan on it not becoming anything serious. Mainly because I already have a hard time pulling myself away from blogs, but also because I recognize that there are countless blogs out there and mine will most likely not be original enough to keep up with them. But, I can still have fun with it, and it will be nice to now have an online identity for people to connect with when I post on their blogs. :)

It took me a while to settle on a name for my blog, but I think I found the right fit in "thrift seeking". It's slightly clever (in that it's a play on words for "thrill seeking"), slightly original (as I can't find any use of it elsewhere), and it really is what (I imagine) my blog will mostly be about: I love to find amazing deals and secondhand finds, and I want to encourage more people to embrace secondhand shopping as a stigma-free way of shopping responsibly: you CAN find/buy nice things without your money supporting unfair labor practices, and/or contributing to a culture of consumerism.

So with that said, there's the rationale behind my blog, and before long I will begin posting some actual content. :)